


We've been through way too much to give this up now

by DraconicDroid



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games), RWBY
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, First Kiss, M/M, One Shot, RWBY au, appropriating hetero kisses for gay rights :), knowledge of V7 recommended, vague references to RWBY canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:12:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26290171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraconicDroid/pseuds/DraconicDroid
Summary: He had seen too much in the last few weeks to just “relax.” Too many of his friends had risked their lives on their way to Atlas for Riku to just accept a night off. Kairi’s left shoulder was permanently scarred from a particularly bad skirmish with a Nevermore, Namine was still experiencing intermittent headaches from her silver eyes, and Sora…Riku was in strange territory with Sora.Riku reflects on the dangers to come at Aqua's election party. Sora just wants his best friend to speak to him again.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	We've been through way too much to give this up now

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first time I've posted anything since 2014. Hopefully I've learned some tricks of the trade since freshman year of high school. I finally managed to post this after realizing the "Rich Text" button exists, so yay.
> 
> This is more or less a RWBY AU, and if you want a complete understanding of how it works without having to watch the show, then I highly recommend watching [this chunk of the episode](https://youtu.be/YN4aBSH-HMY?t=362) off of which I based it so you can understand the context.
> 
> Obviously, Kingdom Hearts and RWBY are not mine, and exist as intellectual properties of Square Enix and Rooster Teeth, respectively.
> 
> If you want more information about the context of this AU, feel free to check the notes at the end. Enjoy!

The second they round the corner, the noise from the crowd swells from the warehouse further down the street. The vibrant flashing lights, the high-energy techno music. Yup. They’re definitely in the right place. Riku surveys the room, flooded with eager patrons dancing and chatting, and sighs as he’s struck with an intense feeling of envy.  
  
The past few weeks have been exhausting for all of them, to say the least. The selfish part of Riku hoped that delivering the relic to Atlas would mean catching a break, but their group was instead met with an insistence that they undergo extensive training and take part in regular mission work after being newly appointed as Huntsmen.  
  
And now, on the evening that Isa had relinquished them to a night off, Riku was standing in the midst of a party, the notion that they were letting their guard down picking at the back of his brain. Of course, everyone back in the Atlas dorms chalked it up to the fact that he, in Roxas’s words, “just wants any excuse to be antisocial,” which was rich coming from _Roxas_ , but Riku settled for flipping him the bird before reluctantly agreeing to accompany Sora and Kairi to Aqua’s election party. Not that he’d be doing much partying anyways.  
  
He had seen too much in the last few weeks to just “relax.” Too many of his friends had risked their lives on their way to Atlas for Riku to just accept a night off. Kairi’s left shoulder was permanently scarred from a particularly bad skirmish with a Nevermore, Namine was still experiencing intermittent headaches from her silver eyes, and Sora…  
  
Riku was in strange territory with Sora. Some would see his recent distance from Sora and once again consider it a result of Riku not caring again, but truthfully, Riku hadn’t cared about something this significant in a long time.  
  
Sora was having the time of his life in Atlas. It was no surprise to anyone, really. Sora was the textbook definition of a Huntsman. Devoted, kind, selfless. With the way he had worked on missions the past few weeks, no one would have been able to tell that he nearly-  
  
A pair of fingers snap themselves in front of him.  
  
“Hey, doofus.”  
  
Riku blinks and scrunches his nose at Kairi, who inspects him incredulously.  
  
She folds her arms, “Still with us, Riku?”  
  
“Yeah,” he responds in an attempt to wrangle his own thoughts back to reality.  
  
“You sure? You seem off today,” Sora interjects as he walks between the two of them, blissfully unaware of the crisis he’s giving his best friend by walking within such close proximity.  
  
“I’m fine,” Riku replies quickly, “I just…think a victory party’s a little preemptive, is all. The election doesn’t end for another half hour and anything can happen.”  
  
“Aqua’s done a lot for Mantle. She should celebrate,” Sora points out.  
  
Riku shakes his head as their group approaches the warehouse doors, “I just don’t think we should be letting our guard down tonight.”  
  
“And that’s exactly _why_ we’re going in the first place. You’ve been too worked up about everything, Riku. Isa gave us the night off for a reason,” Kairi chides confidently, “Now keep it moving, slowpokes! Don’t wanna keep ‘em waiting any longer than we have to!”  
  
With that, Kairi strides towards the doors, grin wide. Riku moves to prop the door open himself when he feels a weight tug around his wrist.  
  
Sora peers at him, concerned, “Hey, wait.”  
  
Riku’s heart stops in his chest.  
  
“We should talk, you know…you’ve been off since…” he trails off.  
  
Oh… _oh._  
  
 _That._  
  
Sora wants to talk about _that._  
  
 _That,_ as in Riku watching Sora get slammed into a tree by a gigantic mechanical arm before falling 10 feet onto frosted terrain. _That,_ meaning Riku stumbling over his feet and screaming for Roxas while he picked up Sora’s limp body while Kairi laid down cover fire. _That,_ referencing the fact that Roxas worked tirelessly to extend his aura to keep Sora’s own functioning while Riku stayed beside him, Sora’s hand in his own before being pulled away to finish the fight.  
  
 _That,_ being the moment that Riku realized that they’re _Huntsmen_ being thrust into a perpetual _war_ bigger than any of their insignificant lives, and that attachments and relationships of _any_ kind, but _especially_ the kind that related to deeply caring about Sora - related to _loving_ Sora - were bound to end in disaster.  
  
Yeah, _that_ that.  
  
“Come on,” Riku pulls away from Sora’s grip gently as he pushes the door further open, “We should keep up with Kairi before we lose track of her.”

* * *

Well that went about as well as expected.  
  
Sora sighs, following Riku, who guides them through the sea of people jumping and dancing to the beat of the music.  
  
It’s been a good month since the Argus incident, and Sora is growing increasingly frustrated that every attempt to reach out to Riku has failed in one way or another.  
  
And no, Sora isn’t the smartest. He can do front flips in combat yet quiver in the presence of an aptitude test, but if there’s one thing Sora knows, it’s emotions. More specifically, he knows his friends’ - _Riku’s_ \- emotions, and he’s slowly hitting the breaking point of Riku’s attempts to outrun the inevitable conversation they need to have about where they stand.  
  
If it’s not running practice drills, it’s doing missions. If it’s not doing missions, it’s checking for updates with Isa. The excuses have become flimsier and flimsier, and Sora is tired of waiting.  
  
And now, in what’s probably the first legitimate moment alone they’ve had since their arrival in Atlas weeks ago, Riku flat-out ignores him.  
  
Add it to the list of times he’s blown me off, he ponders.  
  
He’s tired of saving face. It’s all he’s done for the past few weeks. Taking that severe of a hit in Argus worried everyone, and regardless of how well his recovery has gone, it’s taken nothing but unrelenting positivity on his end for most of his friends to treat him as anything other than glass. He saves face to keep his friends from worrying, and he’s probably going to have to do it again tonight if he wants to salvage any chance of interacting with Riku seriously.  
  
Kairi, who barrels ahead a few feet in front of them, finally stops when she spots Pence from across the room to get their attention.  
  
Pence excitedly elbows Hayner, who proceeds to poke Olette as the trio approaches.  
  
“Long time, no see, strangers!” Olette waves, “Glad you could make it.”  
  
“Well, we couldn’t miss out on this,” Sora smiles, “Aqua’s worked really hard for a seat on the council. We’re glad we could be here to watch her win!”  
  
He stares at the large screen positioned above the stage in careful consideration of his statement. Aqua currently sports a healthy 64% of the votes according to the statistic below her portrait, while Vexen trails with 36%.  
  
“Roxas wasn’t cool enough to tag along tonight, huh?” Hayner quips, “Where’s he tonight?”  
  
“At the movies with Xion and Lea,” Kairi explains, before her expression contorts into a smirk, “Guess you’ll just have to dance the night away with someone else.”  
  
Hayner stutters in protest, flushing at her comment.  
  
Olette shakes her head gently and chuckles, “Well, it’s just the three of us on security tonight, so having you guys around might make it go a little faster. After all, can’t put up with these two on my own.”  
  
“They thought that three Huntsmen would be enough security for the entire party? Good to know Mantle has its priorities straight,” Riku scoffs.  
  
 _God, not this again._  
  
Kairi winces as Olette, Hayner, and Pence stare awkwardly at one another, Riku’s remark hanging in the air.  
  
Sora rolls his eyes, “Mantle is allowed to take a break for _one_ night. After everything it’s been through, a party isn’t the end of the world.”  
  
Truthfully, he could have let this one just simmer and fade out, but he’s tired of saying nothing. Riku has been avoidant enough. At some point, it’s going to go too far.  
  
“I just think that Mantle needs to be realistic about the _very_ real threats it has to deal with,” Riku squints, petulance evident in his voice, “because it can’t afford to let its guard down with so much going on.”  
  
Okay, that’s enough. There’s the point. His breaking point. Sora is done being polite tonight.  
  
“Well _I_ just think that Mantle is getting tired of people making excuses to avoid bringing up other REALLY important things!”  
  
Riku visibly clenches his jaw, silent for a moment before he spots his out.  
  
“I have to talk to Terra about patrols tomorrow,” he turns on his heel, “Have fun.”  
  
“Ugh,” Sora groans, facing away from Riku and throwing his hands in the air.  
  
Yup. As well as expected.

* * *

Kairi is getting tired of this song and dance routine. The lack of progress from either of her emotionally compromised friends? Yes, absolutely. 0 out of 5 stars.  
  
What happens to be more relevant, however, is the fact that every time they seem to add another layer to an already complicated issue, she’s always there to bear witness to it. It was only a matter of time before their audience grew.  
  
Kairi gives a knowing look to Olette, “Think I see some snacks over there. You wanna check it out with me?”  
  
Behind her, Hayner and Pence rapidly shake their heads at Olette, silently begging for them to stay so as not to increase the tension still lingering after Sora and Riku’s spat.  
  
“Sure!” she says, immune to her friends’ pleas, “We’ll be back!”  
  
Kairi leads Olette away, watching the sting of betrayal bloom in their friends’ eyes as they make their escape. Pushing through the crowd, they wait until they reach the snack table to finally speak.  
  
“So…you think they’ve realized at this point that they’re not exactly arguing about Mantle?” Olette asks, half-jokingly yet half-genuine.  
  
“Of course not,” Kairi cracks, “It’s Sora and Riku. They’d walk barefoot on broken glass before they’d admit that the other is right.”  
  
“What are they even fighting about?” her counterpart prods as she swipes a snack from one of the plates. “They both sounded really upset.”  
  
“Probably what happened in Argus…again,” she huffs, exhaustion apparent in her voice, “Riku hasn’t said anything about it since it happened. Hasn’t said anything _period_.”  
  
“Has Sora said anything about it?” Olette presses as the two maneuver back through the crowd.  
  
“Nope!” Kairi shrugs, “He’s not exactly subtle about being upset, though. You’d think that after years of being his friend, he’d know that I can tell when he’s got something on his mind.”  
  
Olette pats her on the shoulder in sympathy as the two return to Hayner and Pence, who are still twiddling their thumbs.  
  
“You didn’t _speak_ to him?!” Olette whispers angrily at the hopelessly useless duo.  
  
“Oh, that’s _real_ rich coming from you,” Hayner shoots back.  
  
Kairi slowly makes her way over to Sora, nudging him, “You know, he has to stop running away from you at some point.”  
  
He moves to stare at her, and she can see something in him from angry to heartbroken. All it does is emphasize the worst of it to Kairi: No matter what, she knows that Sora just wants his best friend back. Wants them to be okay after all of it.  
  
“I-” he sulks, “I’m tired of this. I can’t ignore it anymore.”  
  
“Maybe you should tell _him_ that,” she suggests.  
  
The commotion quells as one of Aqua’s friends - Ventus, is it? - takes the stage with the intent to speak onstage. He taps the microphone and grins sheepishly as the shrill feedback echoes through the warehouse.  
  
“Tell him how serious you are about it…” Kairi trails off, “He’ll listen this time. I know he will.”

* * *

He can’t take much more of this.  
  
The close proximity, the casual physical contact, the mentioning of Argus. All of it is overwhelming, but nothing is worse for Riku than that look.  
  
The one that Sora seems to reserve just for him, where he can see every bit of disappointment and sadness mixed into his face with the small glint of hope in his eyes, because no matter how much Riku continues to let him down, it’s _Sora_ , and Sora will always believe that he’s capable of doing better.  
  
But he can’t this time. Not when so much is on the line. When the future of Remnant is on the line. It’s messy. Hell, _they’re_ messy. Every battle they’ve fought since the fall of Beacon has shown that time and time again. They can’t afford to take more chances or grow more attachments.   
  
So Riku can just keep standing near Terra, right? He’ll stand here for the entire night if it means avoiding Sora. Maybe he’ll just think he’s busy, or that patrols are just _that_ important-  
  
“Riku.”  
  
Wishful thinking.  
  
Heaving a lofty sigh, Riku steels himself to study Sora’s frown. In his peripheral vision, he notices how Terra begins to migrate elsewhere, smirking.  
  
 _Traitor._  
  
“Listen, Sora. I-”  
  
“Before you say anything else,” Sora interrupts him, “I don’t want this to happen again. We spent enough time not talking when we were apart, okay?”  
  
Riku nods as guilt settles in, “Okay.”  
  
Sora scratches the back of his head, hesitant to go on, as if their moment will end at even the slightest movement. In the background, Aqua takes the microphone from Ventus and starts giving her speech, and though the noise in the room ebbs and flows, it’s nothing compared to the sound of blood rushing through Riku’s ears as he hears Sora’s voice again.  
  
“I miss you,” his head is held high enough for his eyes to meet Riku’s but won’t bring his own up, “I know you’ve been avoiding me, but I can’t-”  
  
He stops himself. The crowd has since burst into applause at the conclusion of Aqua’s brief address, and yet another synth-ridden pop song erupts from the speakers.  
  
He finally finds Riku’s gaze, and _oh_. He’s giving the look again.  
  
“What’s going on?” he lightly brushes his thumb over Riku’s fingertips, and Riku’s breath hitches in his throat.  
  
“Sora, I know that this has been hard, but maybe we just need to let this go and move on.”  
  
“Why?” Sora challenges, but there’s no bite to his tone, “Riku…I wasn’t as unconscious as you thought I was…back in Argus.”  
  
Riku’s stomach drops.  
  
“Maybe I’m just remembering it wrong,” Sora moves his hand away, dejected.  
  
And then Riku catches it.  
  
Because after everything he’s put Sora through the past few weeks, the least he can do is be honest, even if it kills him, and at this rate, it probably will.  
  
“You’re not,” he manages to choke out, “I can’t ignore the way that I feel about you, Sora, but…look at where we are.”  
  
Riku breathes out, his words drifting densely between them.  
  
“You’ve seen what’s coming. We both have, but Argus was too close a call. We can’t have distractions, no matter how much we want them,” he defeatedly lets go of Sora’s hand, “Remnant can’t afford to lose a Huntsman.”  
  
Sora presses his mouth into a thin line, and Riku’s heart aches.  
  
 _It’s better for everyone involved,_ he tries to lie to himself, but the growing worry knitted into Sora’s demeanor continues to prove him wrong every second his silence remains.  
  
“Maybe that’s true,” he finally says, “but that doesn’t mean _I_ can afford to lose _you_.”  
  
“Wh-”  
  
Sora has always learned by doing. Years of fighting alongside him has made that evident to Riku.  
  
So he shouldn’t be as surprised as he is when Sora grips the collar of Riku’s shirt and pulls down, his other hand firmly behind Riku’s head to push their lips together.  
  
And yet.  
  
It takes a full second for Riku to process what’s happening. The rational side of his brain is telling him to push Sora off. Tells him that he’s making a mistake by indulging this. Then again, the rational side of his brain has yet to explain why that idea isn’t as enticing as placing his hands at Sora’s sides and leaning further into the kiss, so he settles for siding with the irrational part of his brain instead, and does exactly that.  
  
And for the first time that evening, Riku finally understands what Isa had in mind when he told everyone to take a night off. He’s not thinking about Mantle, or Argus, or Remnant. He’s not worried about his mortality or impending doom.  
  
He barely has a thought process at all, because the only thing that matters to him right now is how it feels to kiss Sora. How nice it feels to have Sora’s fingers threaded through his hair. To kiss him like they’re not Huntsmen or protectors of Mantle or the future of Remnant, but just Sora and Riku, hidden in a crowded room and slotted together perfectly in each other’s arms.  
  
Riku leans back, separating their mouths but still holding onto him, and Sora beams. Riku smiles back at him with hope and love in his eyes, and there’s a small part of him that thinks they’ll be okay because at least they’ll have each other - have _this_ , whatever this is. Whatever they want this to be.  
  
And then the lights shut off.

**Author's Note:**

> Some general notes about this AU.
> 
> **1.) The title, if you haven't already guessed, is from["Let's Get Real"]() on the V7 soundtrack, the song that plays during the kiss.**
> 
>  **2.) No one has a specific parallel in this AU.** Even though Sora and Riku have been placed in a situation similar to Ren and Nora, that doesn't necessarily mean that I think Riku is inherently like Ren or that Sora is inherently like Nora. The characters experience the same circumstances, but exist as themselves, hence why I tried to change the circumstances of why Riku and Sora were fighting.
> 
>  **3.) I actually used this situation in particular because of how much I didn't like the way it was executed in canon.** Personally, I don't like Ren and Nora as a ship. I think that RT doesn't show enough of how much Ren cares about Nora, so it feels a little too one-sided for me, kiss included. What I really wanted to emphasize in this fic was that the feelings between Sora and Riku were very mutual, so I tried to change the conflict as best as I could.
> 
>  **4.) My thought process in inserting the Twilight Town characters was basically just "And I will pepper in the fact that Roxas and Hayner are gay."** :)


End file.
